I'll Be There, Always
by msbookworm93
Summary: Aria experiences a tramatizing event brought on by A and it changes her life. She's afraid that Ezra will leave her constantly, but he responds by saying that he will always be there
1. Ch 1: Happy and In Love

**AN: This is my very first fanfic that I have ever posted. I hope you like it, I am a HUGE Ezria fan. Little Background, almost the entire first season has taken place. The season finale never happened when this story starts, and then I added some stuff that hasn't happened. If you have any question review or PM. I hope to be able to update often, but I'm busy getting ready to graduate and move out for college. I have the 1****st**** 5 chapters written, just not typed yet…so with further ado I give you **_**I'll Be There, Always.**_

**Ch. 1: Happy and In Love**

"I love you, Aria." Ezra stated after he kissed her in welcoming her to his apartment that Saturday night. "I'm so happy that you were able to make it tonight." Aria had come to Ezra's place straight from a family dinner where she learned that after a year of separation her parents were getting back together and were going to renew their wedding vows one month from tonight.

"Even if I can only be here for two hours?" Aria questioned him with a small smirk on her face (knowing full well what his answer was) kissing him before walking over to his couch and setting her things down on the coffee table.

"Even if I could only see you for two minutes I wouldn't mind. As long as I can see you, I'm a happy person." Ezra replied with a smile on his face as he walked towards the refrigerator to grab Aria a Diet Coke, her favorite soda. After grabbing one for each of them he walked over to the couch to hand it to her, but saw Aria staring at his coffee table with an amused look on her face.

"Are you enjoying a tough reading book, Mr. Fitz?" She asked him pointing to the book on the table and started to laugh. Ezra looked to where she was pointing to see Dr. Seuss' Green Eggs and Ham sitting on top of a stack of papers that he needed to grade.

"Oh, um…yeah it is actually a gift for my nephew. He turns 4 next weekend and my brother told me that Coda really loves Dr. Seuss, and somehow he didn't have this story yet, hence the book on my coffee table." Ezra explained as his face lit up. Aria noticed that whenever they started talking about his family, Ezra face always lit up, which was another reason Aria loved him so much. Family is really important to her.

"You are really close to Blaine aren't you? Every time you mention him or part of his family you seem happier." Aria pointed out to him. She knew they were close, but she didn't know how close they actually were.

"Yeah, he is a only a few years older than me, but since we grew up in a really screwed up home, he and I leaned on each other a lot. He tells me everything, I was the first person he told when Anna got pregnant, I helped him propose to her, and I was his best man. We actually both tell each other everything. I told him about when I got the job here in Rosewood, I talked to him, and he helped me out when…when Jackie broke off the engagement, and I told him when I met the most amazing girl at a bar just over a year ago." He was going to keep telling her things that Blaine knew when Aria interrupted him.

"Ezra, does he know the entire story of us?" Aria questioned him with a little bit of fear in her voice. If he knew, who knew what he thought of it. Yes, he knew about the girls knowing about them, hell he even knew about A. But why wouldn't he tell her that he had told somebody about them.

Ezra had waited a few seconds before replying to this question. "Yes, he does. He knows everything.

"Everything? Including everything about…about A?"

"Oh God, no. I would never tell him about A, unless I absolutely had to, I wouldn't scare him like that. But, Aria, he does know everything else. He knows about how we met, I told him when I found out that you were my student. That week I left and went to New York last year, I stayed with him. He is the one who finally convinced me to come back here. After that storm, and I saw you with Noel, I called him. He gave me advice. I told him about Noel finding out and about how scared I was that something would happen to you. Aria he knows our entire story. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you sooner that he knew. I had no good reason to keep that from you." Ezra didn't know how Aria would react to this, so when he looked into her eyes again, he was shocked at what he saw in them. Granted, there was some hurt and anger, but more prominently there was understanding, love, and forgiveness.

"Its okay, Ezra." She replied. "I mean, yeah, I'm a bit upset you didn't tell me, but I understand. Hanna, Emily, and Spencer knew for about three months before I told you that they knew, so I understand, and I should have no reason to be upset. But Ezra, please tell me, does anyone else know besides the few we both know of? So anyone that is not Noel, A, Hardy, Blaine, and the girls? I don't want any more surprises or secrets about this."

"Well, Anna knows, but other than her, no. Nobody else knows, well no one that I know of." He stated firmly. After he saw the smile that faintly crossed Aria's face he continued speaking, hoping this would cheer her up a little. "Aria, Blaine really wants to meet you." Aria's eyes got wide and she was about to speak when he stopped her telling her that he wasn't finished. "Do you think that you could get the girls to cover for you and come with me to New York next weekend?" Ezra asked her hopefully.

"Are, are you serious, Ezra? I would love to. I'll talk to the girls when they come over tomorrow afternoon." Aria responded excitedly.

"That sounds good. I hope it works out. It would be for all day Saturday and most day Sunday. If possible Friday night, but if you can't come up with an alibi for that much time, we can just leave early Saturday." Ezra told her with a smile creeping up on his face.

"I think I can come up with the perfect Alibi, and it can cover me from Friday night to Sunday night. I'll tell my parents that Spencer and I are going to New York to look at a few colleges in New York since she and I have always talked about going to New York together after high school, and since her parents are in England with Melissa and Ian this weekend we can tell my parents that they are really just taking us to New York. The girls and I can work out the details for the story tomorrow though." By this point both Ezra and Aria and smiles wide on the their faces.

"I can't wait baby." Ezra told her as he leaned in to kiss Aria eagerly. She had leaned into the kiss as well with just as much eagerness. And soon the two of them were exploring the all too familiar mouths of the other. All too soon, they had made it to the bed, Ezra was shirtless, Aria's jacket and over shirt were off and she was in her undershirt (since her main shirt was way to revealing, even for Aria, without a tank top on under it), and Ezra was about to remove that as well when Aria stopped him.

"Not yet, Ezra. We can wait a few more weeks until I'm eighteen."

"We can, your right. I'm sorry." Ezra said as he stood up off the bed, to go search for the few articles of clothing that had been removed.

"Ezra, don't you dare apologize. There is nothing to be sorry for. We both want this, and we both know it. Yeah, it will be hard for the next few weeks, but don't you apologize for something we both want." She told him as he handed Aria her shirt. He had started to put his back on when she put her hand on his chest to stop him. "But that doesn't mean you have to put your shirt back on, I love your body." She told him with a wink and a gentle kiss to his chest.

Ezra laughed, but he threw his shirt over his shoulder anyways. "Whatever you say Aria. I love you."

" I love you too, Ezra." Aria told him quietly, as she wrapped her arms around his waist, and buried her head to his chest, and action she usually only does when she was scared or sad.

"Aria?"

"Hm?" She responded, head still in his chest and holding onto him.

"Are you okay?" When he asked this she pulled back and looked up at him with a worried look on her face. "What's wrong, Aria?"

Aria let out a sigh, Ezra knew her to well. "It's just…well, it's A." Aria saw the lolok of fear flash quickly through Ezra's eyes. "She has been quiet for almost two weeks." The fear was replaced with confusion.

"Isn't this a good think? She is stopping this insanity." Ezra asked while sitting down on the couch.

Aria followed him and sat down next to him, but she shook her head no. "That's what I thought last time. No, last time she kept quiet this long, Spencer almost died. When A is silent, it measn something bad is about to happen. And we are thinking it will happen soon, A doesn't have the patience, especially when it means something bad for one of us. Also, all of us think that A is planning something for either Emily or myself. She has already done something big to Hanna and Spencer. Ezra, I'm scared. Not just because that I could get hurt, but what if A tries to hurt you. I wouldn't put it past her to try something like that. And I don't think I could bear it if you were hurt. I love you so much and A knows that. She might use that to her advantage." Aria was holding onto Eara now and she had started to tear up. "I'm just so scared, Ezra."

Ezra held her for a few seconds before talking. "Aria, don't worry about me; I'll be fine. I can take whatever A dished out to me. I won't let her hurt you either. I will always be here to protect you. And I will help protect your friends if I can, because I know how much they mean to you and how much you four all lean on each other. I love you. " Ezra finished speaking, then he turned her face towards him and kissed her gently on the lips. It wasn't a deep or passionate kiss, but the kiss was still full of love and safety, that Aria didn't want it to end, but at that moment her phone went off. They both froze in fear looking over at her phone lying on the coffee table. Aria picked it up and looked at the number and let out a sigh, it was only Spencer.

**Spencer: **Here is your 5 minute warning, almost midnight. Tell Fitz hi and sorry for interrupting the homework time ;) see ya tomorrow Aria.

"It looks like the normal five minute warning. Spencer says, and I quote, 'Tell Fitz hi and sorry for interrupting the homework time ;) see ya tomorrow Aria.'" Aria told him starting to laugh. The two of them then stood up and walked to the door. "I'll talk to you tomorrow Ezra, I love you, goodnight."

"Goodnight Aria, I love you too." He told her leaning into kiss her. They kissed for a few minutes befor breaking apart. "I'll see you Monday, Miss Montgomery." He whispered with a wink, as she walking out of the apartment.

He loved Aria so much and what she told him tonight really scared him. But he would do all he could to protect her, because he didn't know what he would do without Aria in his life. _A can't do anything _Ezra thought to himself, but little did he know, A's plan was about to take off, and Aria was the intended target.

**AN: Here is chapter 1. I hope you enjoyed it. Sory, it's a little short, I'll try and make future chapters longer. Please review and tell me what you think. Sorry for the cliff hanger, I'll try and update soon. If you have any ideas you'd like to see let me know. I'm currently in writers block, but luckily I have a few chapters written already. **

**DISCLAIMER: These are not my characters, they belong to Sara Shepard and ABC family. **

**Blaine, Anna, and Coda aren't even made up people, they are some of my really good friends. Blaine and Anna are actually married and Coda is their 7 month old son. **

**Again, I hope you enjoy the story. :)**


	2. Ch 2: Did This Really Happen?

**AN: Here is chapter 2. A few things I forgot to mention last chapter. I got the Idea for the name of this story from the song "You'll be in My Heart" by Phil Collins…and it's in Tarzan. It is also the song my school has chosen for our "Senior Song," The song that is performed by the top choir(which I happen to be in) at graduation. There is a line in the song that says "I'll be there, always." And I was trying to figure out what to name this song when the song popped up on my music list. I thought it was perfect, I love this song. Also, I said that all of season 1 happened except the season finale, but I'm changing it a little, Alison's memorial was never ruined in my story. Hope you like chapter 2. **

**Ch. 2: Did This Really Happen?**

"Who are you?" She questioned the man, trying not to let her fear come out in her voice. Aria had been on her way home from Ezra's place, when on a whim, she decided to visit Ali's memorial. After she had talked to Ezra about her most recent fears concerning A, Aria decided that she needed to stop by if only for a minute and clear her head. It's different, you would think that she would be scared to go there, but Aria always went there when she wanted to think about the trouble A was giving them. Aria had been walking back to her car when she had seen a person started to walk straight to her. Freaking out a little bit, she instinctively reached for her phone so she could call someone. But before she even pulled it out of her pocket, someone had grabbed her from behind. She felt a brief feeling of pain, and that was the last thing Aria remembered before slipping into a state of unconsciousness.

When she regained her consciousness, Aria had a pounding headache. She felt that she was on a stone cold floor. She tried standing carefully and quietly but soon found that she was restrained. How, though, she couldn't quite tell. She could tell that it was rope and not some form of metal however. This thought calmed her slightly; she knew how to escape rope ties if given enough time, but she was still freaking out. What in the hell was going on. She then noticed that she was not alone. There was a man sitting on a chair on the opposite side of the small room. The room was dark and she couldn't see his face, so she asked her question. "That isn't really important right now is it," This mystery man replied. His voice didn't sound familiar at all to Aria. "What is important right now is the fun the two of us will soon have." The way he spoke brought goose bumps to her arms, she knew that they had very opposite ideas of fun.

"And what kind of 'fun' is this? I have an inkling that I won't agree." This man didn't have to respond, Aria remembered that she was tied down and in that moment she knew what this man had in store for her and she really started to freak out. And if Aria had any control, she would not let it happen. _I'd sooner die than let this creep enter my body. _She thought, panicked. "Stay the hell away from me! I'll kick your sorry ass!" Aria yelled at him, as he started to walk towards her.

"Oh, yeah, sure you will. Aria, in case you haven't noticed, you are tied down and can't even move. But don't worry baby, I won't hurt you...unless you deserve it." He laughed. Aria wanted to right then and there throw up all over. The way he said her name, and called her baby, it continued giving her the chills.

Aria had been secretly working on escaping her bindings, and now the rope was loose enough to where she could slide her right hand through it. She thought that she would be able to get it out and slap him hard enough for him to react so she could get the hell out of there. She fought against him as he started to remove her pants, but he wasn't close enough to get a good slap in yet, and she was soon worried that he wouldn't get closer. By this time he had removed all clothing on the bottom half of her body and Aria had started to fight as best she could with being bound in rope. Soon enough, the man had started to descend on her and Aria was able to smack him across the face and push him away. Aria had been able to escape her bindings, but since she had to run to grab her clothes before reaching the door, her attacker had been able to recover enough to catch back up. He grabbed her tightly by the wrist.

She attempted to spin around and slap him once again, but he had been expecting it and was able to grab her other wrist. Aria's wrists were small enough that he was able to put them both in one hand. He slapped her full on the face and the blow came so forcefully that she lost her balance and fell to the floor, hitting her head on the corner of the chair the main had previously occupied. She felt her head split open slightly and could feel the blood starting to rush out. As she was trying to stand back up, she saw that she had slight rope burns on her wrists. This had stalled her long enough for the man to reach down and restrain her once again. She continued trying to fight, and even attempted kicking him hard in the balls, but it seemed that he knew she would try that and stood out of the way of her legs. She kept fighting but her fall had weakened her and her attacker was stronger. The more she fought, the harder he restrained her. But the worst was yet to come.

"GET OFF OF ME!" Aria screamed at him. The man just continued laughing and this was when he decided that he could wait no longer, almost as if he were waiting for her to yell those exact words. He finally plunged himself into her, laughing the entire time. Aria yelled out in agony. She wanted to just curl up and die she was now in so much pain, but she continued fighting, but this man was still stronger, and it almost felt like a lost cause.

After what seemed like an eternity, a small stroke of luck, fortunately, for Aria, her attacker in a sense of stupidity on his part, had gotten a little too close to Aria's face and she was able to bite down on his shoulder hard enough for him to withdraw from her in pain. He looked where she had bitten him, and noticed that she had drawn blood. "WHAT A BITCH!" He screamed out loud. He then punched her hard in the jaw, and she blacked out.

Aria didn't know how long she had been unconscious, but when she did regain her consciousness she was in so much pain, that she was barely to move, and she could hear her captor speaking on the phone to someone. She wanted to speak up, but she had a feeling that keeping quiet at this particular moment was the wiser choice. "No, she has not woken back up yet…Well she bit me. That little bitch deserved it…okay, I'm sorry, but I don't want to do it again, she is a…okay I'll let her go. It will be a while until she wakes up, so I'll take her to her and let her wake up there…No she never saw my face, and she does not know where she is now…Fine, I want the money tonight. Bye." Aria had heard that she would be able to go free soon, so she kept feigning her state of unconsciousness. But one thing that this mad had said nagged at her mind. It was true, she never saw her face and she didn't have a damn clue as to where she was right now. How was she going to give the police a description of the man if she didn't know herself. Aria wanted to stand up and hurt this guy and see his face, but she still could barely move and soon her world slowly turned black once more.

**AN: Sorry, I wanted this chapter to be longer, but I only wanted this little scene in it and I didn't know how much longer I could drag it on without it sounding crappy. I hope you like it. I don't know if I will be able to update again until Monday because I'm going to California with my school choir this weekend. I'll try and update tomorrow, but I can't make any promises. I really hope you liked this chapter. Please Review! **

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own PLL or any of its characters. Wish I did, but I don't. They belong to Sara Shepard and ABC family.**


	3. Ch 3: Phone Calls and Worrying

**AN: I am so so so sorry about how long it took me to update. I lost my flash drive that had this chapter on it so I couldn't type it up and save it. I was also in California, which almost completed my life because I was like 5 miles away from the set of Pretty Little Liars, I was practically freaking out. Sorry for the rambling, I hope you like this chapter. Sorry, you don't really find out what happens to Aria until the next chapter. This chapter is mostly about Ezra before he finds out. Please Review and tell me what you think. **

**Ch. 3 Phone Calls and Worrying**

Ezra couldn't help but smile after Aria left his apartment that night. Aria was finally going to meet Blaine, without Blaine having to come to Rosewood. He looked at the time and decided that it was not too late to call Blaine and tell him. So after sending a quick text to Aria, he dialed in the familiar number of his brother.

After about three rings Blaine picked up with sleep in his voice. "Hey Ezra, what's up? Is there any particular reason you are calling me at 11:50 at night?"

"Oh, sorry, did I wake you guys up?" Ezra quickly apologized. Blaine responded by saying that it was fine, but Ezra wasn't sure. "I can call back in the morning, but yes, I did have a particular reason for calling. It's about next weekend." He told his brother, smiling inwardly to himself.

"No, go ahead and tell me. I had fallen asleep on the couch watching a movie with Anna, so it's good to be awake now, it looks like she has already gone up to bed, so now I can go up when we hang up. By the way, they are both really excited to be seeing you again. Do you know when you are getting here yet?" Blaine informed while asking Ezra.

"That is partly why I am calling. I actually have a question for you."

"Sure, what's the question?"

"Would it be okay if I bring Aria with me this weekend? We were talking tonight and she saw the gift I got for Coda, and the idea just came to me. You were talking about wanting to meet her, and this way you don't have to come here to Rosewood." Ezra told his brother. He had used to want Blaine to come to Rosewood, but then Ezra had learned of A and now he wanted to keep Blaine and his family safe from A, far away from Rosewood.

"Ezra, are you sure that's a smart idea? How is a 17 year old girl going to explain her absence for a whole weekend? I mean, I have to problem with it, and I'm sure Anna won't either, she wants to meet her just as badly as I do, but is bringing her here to New York smart?" Blaine responded with some hesitancy to his voice. "You know I can always come to Rosewood. It wouldn't be a problem for me."

"Yeah, I'm sure. She already has an alibi, as she likes to call it, to tell her parents for the weekend. Besides, if you came here to meet her, I wouldn't be able to promise more than a few hours with her and we wouldn't be able to go out. We would be held up in my apartment. But if Aria came to New York with me, she could meet Anna and coda, we wouldn't have to hide all weekend, I could go out in public with her. That is the main reason I want to bring her with me, that and to meet you." Ezra was already picturing this in his mind. His brother lived in a nice home in Manhattan and Ezra would be able to take Aria to Central Park, Times Square, even the Statue of Liberty. Aria had revealed to Ezra recently that, surprisingly, she had never been to New York City and since then Ezra had been creating a list of things for them to do together. He had been picturing this perfect weekend that Ezra hadn't even realized that he had completely zoned out until he heard Blaine almost yelling out his name.

"Ezra? Are you still there?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry. I zoned out for a second. What did you say?"

Blaine let out a small sigh of frustration, but continued. "I said, that you are lucky you are the only family Anna and I invited over that weekend. It would be fairly hard explaining why your 17 year old student is sharing your bedroom."

"Thank you thank you Blaine. Aria and I will be there either Friday night or Saturday afternoon. It all depends on the details for her story to her parents." Ezra told Blaine, excitement clear in his voice.

"How do you do it? The sense of nervousness of getting caught, it must be hard. You both have to lie constantly to others just to be together. I get that you love her, but still, how do you manage it?" Blaine asked him. "I'm scared for you, every time you mention that she is coming over. You never know if you will get caught. I know you don't want to hear this little brother, but I'm just worried that it will end badly. Here it is the usual 'be careful' speech."

"Blaine, I know that you worry about it, trust me, I do too. But I-we manage it because Aria and I love each other so much. Yes, it's hard; I live in the always present fear of getting caught, but not because I could face jail time and lose my job. I live in this fear of getting caught and never being able to see her again, of losing her. She and I are always careful though, don't worry. And the lies you mentioned, let me tell you. They suck, you know I hate lying, but they are the only way I get to see her outside of school. I feel guilty about it and sometimes I want to come clean and confess everything, but then I'll look into her eyes and know that I could never do that to her." Ezra trailed off into his thoughts. As much as he loved his brother, he hated when Blaine would bring this up, about once every few weeks. He understood where Blaine was coming from, but his constant reminders were getting old.

"I know Ezra. I'm just worrying, like usual. But, I can't wait to meet her next week." Blaine informed him.

"Thank you so much Blaine. This means so much to me." Ezra thanked him and they moved onto other topics. They talked about the coming weekend, Ezra's teaching, Blaine's current cases (Blaine is a big time lawyer in New York), and about Anna and Coda.

"I was going to wait until Saturday to tell you, but I can't keep it anymore." Blaine told his brother, Ezra asked as to what he was talking about and Blaine responded happily saying "Anna's pregnant."

"Whoa, congrats bro." Ezra congratulated him. "When is the due date?"

"May 24th is when she is due." Ezra could hear the smile on his brother's face.

"That is really great, Blaine. Tell her congrats for me." The two talked for a little while longer, until they both realized how late it was getting. The two hung up at almost 1:00 in the morning. Ezra then got ready for bed. He was almost asleep when he got this overwhelming feeling that something bad was happening to Aria. He whipped out his phone, and saw that she never had replied to the text he had sent over an hour ago. He decided to text her again.

**Ezra: **Hey, Sorry for texting this late, but I just had a feeling something is wrong, it's probably nothing, but I thought I would check. Call me when you get this please. I love you.

When ten minutes came and went without a reply or call, Ezra tried calling her. No one answered her phone. He then started to really freak out. He tried calming down and after a few more minutes passed him by he sent another text.

**Ezra: **Baby, I'm getting worried; you aren't answering calls or texts. Call me ASAP. I love you so much.

Another ten minutes went by with no reply. It was almost 2:30 and Ezra tried convincing himself that Aria was fine. _She just fell asleep as soon as she got home. _He thought to himself, still trying to calm himself down. _She forgot to take her phone off silent when she stopped driving. _He thought many more thoughts as to reason why Aria hadn't answered. He finally sent last text to Aria before attempting to let sleep take him.

** Ezra: **Hey Aria, I'm probably just over reacting. You probably just fell asleep before you got these. Call me in the morning, I love you, always.

After Ezra sent this last text, he crawled back into bed and tried letting sleep come to him, but it wouldn't. He just wanted to hop into his car and drive to her house, but knew he couldn't reasonably do that, as much as he wanted to. He continued trying to sleep, but he couldn't shake the feeling something bad was going down. And it was with these thoughts that Ezra fell into an uneasy sleep.

**AN: I hope you like the chapter. Again I am so sorry for the long wait. I hope to be able to update every few days. But the next 2 weeks are going to be really busy as I get ready to graduate high school.  
>Just another note, May 24<strong>**th****, wasn't a completely random date…it happens to be my birthday so I thought what better day to have her be due than on my birthday. Anyways please review. I'll try and get chapter 4 up soon. But I decided to re write/add some stuff to the chapter so it might take a little while longer. I promise though, I will update soon.**

**DISCLAIMER! I don't own Pretty Little Liars or any of its characters. They belong to ABC Family and Sara Shepard. **


	4. Ch 4: What Happened Next

**AN: I apologize for how long it has taken me to upload. It has taken me way to long. I have been so busy trying to get ready to graduate, I got sick, and life has just been hectic. Also, it sucks when you have to share a computer with your dad and brother. I can't wait until I get my own laptop next week. Anyways, I hope you love this chapter. This chapter is focused mostly on Aria. I hope you enjoy it. Please read and review. **

**Ch. 4 What happened next.**

Aria regained her consciousness, and she saw that she had been left in her car. She didn't know how long she had been there, but she was frozen in place. She couldn't believe that she had just been raped. She couldn't sit up because she was in so much pain. She looked around and saw her phone on the floor next to her and picked it up, reading the time before she called her dad. 2:45, _Damn it, my parents are probably pissed off that I'm not home yet._ Aria thought to herself. She then saw that she had 10 unread text messages and a few missed calls. The calls were from her parents, Spencer, and Ezra. And the text messages; four from Ezra, one from each Hanna, Emily, and Spencer, also one from each of her parents, and one from a blocked number.

**Ezra: **Hey babe, I miss you already, I love you so much.

**Ezra: **Hey, Sorry for texting this late, but I just had a feeling something is wrong, it's probably nothing, but I thought I would check. Call me when you get this please. I love you.

**Ezra: **Baby, I'm getting worried; you aren't answering calls or texts. Call me ASAP. I love you so much.

**Ezra: **Hey Aria, I'm probably just over reacting. You probably just fell asleep before you got these. Call me in the morning, I love you, always.

Aria groaned, how could she tell the love of her life about what she had just experienced. She didn't want even want to think of what his reaction would be. _Telling my parents will be hard enough, how in the hell am I supposed to let Ezra know. _She would just have to figure out that one later. She continued reading the texts

**Emily: **Hey, do you want to grab a coffee with me in the morning before we all hang out?

**Hanna: **Need a study buddy, want to meet up early tomorrow so I can attempt to understand this poem your bf gave us? HAHA let me know.

**Spencer: **Your parents just called me and told me that you hadn't come home yet, I covered for you, but you might want to leave his apartment soon.

**Byron: **Getting worried Aria, where are you?

** Ella: **Your curfew was an hour ago, where are you?

Aria dreaded reading the last text, because she had a very good idea who it was from.

**Unknown: **ARIA! Did you have fun? I certainly know that I had fun watching. Have a good night. Have fun explaining those bruises. LOVE & KISSES ~ **A**

Aria felt the phone drop out of her hand after reading this text. She wanted to throw up in that moment. She was raped because of A. Aria didn't know what to do. She was so scared now. _Oh my God, what do I do? _She knew she couldn't stay there all night, so she picked her phone back up and called her father. After two rings he picked up, and he did not sound happy. "Aria where the hell are you. Do you have any idea how worried we are? Your curfew was 3 hours ago. Your mother and I were about to call the cops. Again, where are you?" Yeah, he definitely was not happy.

Aria let in a breath and began to tell her dad, why did she have to tell him over the phone? "Dad, I need you and mom to come get me. I can't drive. No, I'm not drunk or high, but I'm in a severe amount of pain." Aria paused quickly. She let in one more breath, this time a deep breath, and she finally spoke what happened out loud. "I-I was just…just…I was just raped." With it said out loud, it finally hit her that it really did happen and she started crying hard.

"WHAT? Where are you, we will be right there." Her father sounded scared and upset. Aria was barely able to tell him through her tears. "Okay dear, we'll be there in five minutes. I love you." And then he hung up, leaving Aria to cry some more.

Not even five minutes later, Aria's parents pulled up to her car. When they saw her they both audibly gasped. Aria did not even want to know how she looked. "Oh my God, Aria are you alright? Byron we need to drive her to the police station. Maybe the hospital." Her mother was hysterical.

"Ella calm down. We'll take her to the hospital and then call the station and ask them to meet us there." Byron was trying to remain calm, but Aria could hear him choking back the tears. This was hard on everyone, not just Aria. "Can you sit up, Aria?"

"No, It's too painful." Aria stated weakly.

**~~~PLL PLL~~~**

By the time Aria was released from the hospital and after talking to the police, all Aria wanted to do was curl up in a ball and sleep. She had never cried so much, but her tears wouldn't stop falling from her eyes, as she kept having to relive what happened over and over by telling the police what happened, and telling parts of what happened to the doctors. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw her traumatizing night. Therefore, when Aria got home, she couldn't sleep. All she did was watch the television. Her parents told her that she could not have anyone over for a few hours, requiring her to text the girls and tell them that they had to change the time to 6:00 instead of 2:00. The girls didn't ask why, they just said that they would be there.

But the next thing she was going to have to do was going to be hard. She had to talk to Ezra. She wanted to tell him what happened, but not over the phone, and he couldn't exactly come over and she couldn't go over there. By the time she had gotten home, she had 5 missed calls, and 5 texts all from Ezra. They all said almost the same thing; how much he missed her, how worried he was getting that he hadn't heard back from her yet, and saying how much he loved her. She had to call him, and she knew it. Aria hit the call button and waited for him to answer while holding her breath. He picked up after the second ring.

"Aria, what's going on? I've been trying to get a hold of you since you left last night. Are you okay?" Ezra sounded panicked, more panicked than she had ever heard him before.

"Yeah, I-I'm fine. I have just been feeling sick, I have been all day. I have been sleeping most of the day. And sorry for not responding last night, my phone died soon after leaving your place and when I got home I just plugged it in and fell asleep. I'm sorry for worrying you. I love you." Aria replied, hoping she sounded convincing. _Oh God, I hate lying to him._ She thought to herself.

"It's okay baby, I understand. You need your rest, so I'll let you sleep. Will you be at school tomorrow?" Aria had been afraid that he would ask that as soon as she told him that she was feeling sick.

"I don't think I will be. I can barely stand up without feeling like throwing up." Aria responded truthfully to his question.

"Okay. I miss you beautiful. I hope that you feel better soon, so I can see your beautiful loving face again. Goodbye love, I'll talk to you soon." With that said, Ezra hung up the phone and Aria started to cry once again.

_He won't love me when he finds out about this. He will never be able to look at me the same way again. _Aria thought to herself. It was these horrid thoughts, which she fitfully fell to sleep with.

**~~~PLL PLL~~~**

It was almost 6:00 when the girls came over to Aria's that night. Aria knew that she would have to tell them what happened, and she was dreading having to relive those terrible moments again.

Aria heard the gasps first. She turned and looked at the horrified looks on her friends faces. "Oh my God, Aria what happened to you?" Hanna freaked out.

"You look like death." Emily added on.

"Oh gee, thanks, that makes me feel better." Aria snapped. She made it come out a little more rudely than she had meant to and she quickly apologized. "I'm sorry Em. It's just that I feel like death. You don't know the half of it."

"Well, what happened?" Spencer repeated Hanna's question.

Aria's face filled with hurt, despair, fear, and anger. "That bitch, A, happened." As she said those four words, the faces of her friends went from concern to fear. Aria hesitated in saying anything, but the girls were waiting. She closed her eyes, let in a big breath and started telling her story. "After I left Ezra's last night, I decided to stop at the memorial for a minute to clear my head about A. As I was walking back to my car, someone came up behind me, and the next thing I remember was waking up in a small cold room. I don't even know where it was. I noticed that I had been tied down with badly tied rope. And there was a-a man in the room with me. He tried r-raping me, but I fought back, and eventually I got free of the rope and was trying to run to the door but…" Aria paused. This was the part of her living nightmare that kept playing in her head, the part she wanted most to forget. "He caught up to me and when I tried to slap him, he managed to block it, and then he slapped me and it made me lose my balance and I fell and hit my head on the corner of a chair." Aria held her hand up to where the stitches were on the corner of her forehead. "I had hardly any energy left, and I couldn't stand up. I could barely fight, but I never stopped fighting. He ended up raping me, and it felt as if it would never end."

Aria was visibly shaking and crying. She grabbed her legs and pulled them up to her chest gently, and she stared at the floor. The girls were about to speak when Aria stopped them, and she continued her fearful story. "After an eternity had passed, this man got close enough to my face and I was able to bite his shoulder hard enough to draw blood and have him draw back. He called me a bitch and slapped me once again, harder than the time before and it was hard enough to make me lose consciousness again. When I gained consciousness again I was back in my car." Aria decided not to tell anyone that she had heard the man on the phone when she was between consciousness and unconsciousness. "I was in so much pain, that I couldn't even sit up. I reached for my phone and found not only your texts, but this one as well." She pulled out her phone and showed the text that A had sent her.

"Oh my God, Aria. You just went through hell." Hanna stated. She as well as everyone else in the room, had tears rolling down her cheeks. "Sorry, I know that I just stated the obvious, but I don't know what else to say." Hanna, Emily and Spencer came and surrounded Aria in a gentle group hug. Aria hadn't stopped crying yet. The vision was still vividly burning before her eyes.

"What did Fitz say when you told him what happened." Emily asked Aria, hoping that it would help.

"I…um, I haven't told him yet." Aria told them between sobs. "I'm so scared to tell him, and when I do tell him, I want to be able to tell him face to face."

"But when will that be, you obviously won't be at school for a few days. Do you want us to just tell him for you? Spencer asked her.

"NO!" Aria almost yelled. "I have to be the one to tell him. He has to hear it from me, no matter what. You three have to promise me that you won't tell Ezra." The three of the promised, but promised hesitantly. "Since you guys brought Ezra up, I have a question to ask you guys." She promised Ezra she would ask them about the New York trip today, and she wouldn't break her promise, even though it looked like she might not be able to go, there would be no way her parents would let her go to New York so soon after this even happened.

"What is it Aria? We'll do anything you need us to do." Emily told her warmly.

"Do you need an alibi for some extended period of time?" Hanna asked.

Aria's jaw dropped. "How did you know?"

"Lucky guess" Hanna smirked.

"Well, I saw this trip happening, but now I'm now so sure. It was supposed to be for this coming weekend. Ezra wants to take me up to New York to meet his brother, Blaine, and his family, Anna and Coda. They are the only people that Ezra has told and they want to meet me. Coda is turning 4 this weekend so Ezra invited me to go with him. I wanted to tell me parents that Spencer and I were going to look at colleges up in New York City and that your parents were taking us. But I have no idea how it will be possible now that A had to go and ruin my life. What should I do?"

"Wow Aria, I have no clue. Do you think that your parents would let you go to New York so soon after what happened?" Spencer asked Aria. "If they are, I would definitely be willing to cover for you but…"

"Yeah I know." Aria stated sadly. "But I still need to talk to you guys about it, in case Ezra brings it up tomorrow. Can you guys just tell him that the alibi has a few minor kinks to work out, and that we will let him know the plan on Wednesday?" Aria almost pleaded with them.

"Yeah, sure." Hanna agreed.

"If you are sure." Spencer slowly agreed.

"Of course we will." Emily told Aria smiling.

"Thank you guys, so much." Aria smiled slightly. Jest then, Aria's mom came in and said that Aria needed rest and it was time for the girls to leave.

"We'll come by after school and visit you tomorrow." Emily said while giving Aria a hug. Spencer and Hanna also gave her a hug with promises to come tomorrow. Soon Aria was alone again, and she let more tears escape her eyes as she attempted to sleep.

**AN: How did you like the chapter? I hope you liked it. I had a difficult time writing it because of the emotion that goes through it. I hope to get the next chapter up soon, it's the chapter where Ezra finds out. I hope you like this chapter. Please review **

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own PLL or any of its characters. Wish I did, but I don't. They belong to Sara Shepard and ABC family.**

**PS….who saw the wonderful picture of Ian Harding shirtless! Let's just say, I was in heaven when I saw it. Haha. **


	5. Ch 5 pt 1: Finding Out the Truth

**AN: I am SOOOOOO sorry that it has taken forever for me to update. Life got crazy. But on all of the plus sides, I have my own laptop, no more waiting for my time on the computer. I am a high school graduate, and I can have more time to write this summer. And PRETTY LITTLE LIARS IS BACK IN LESS THAN 48 HOURS! Downsides, I'm starting to get writers block, I know where I want to go with the story but I'm having issues getting there. But don't worry, I will update as often as I can. If you have any ideas on what you want to see in the story let me know. **

**Also, one of my friends asked me, so I'm gonna clear this up. All of the stuff that I said happened has happened, but a year has passed and A is still tormenting them. Aria is now a senior and she has been with Ezra for over a year.**

**I want to thank ****SolitudeMyLove for the reviews you give on every chapter, I find them really helpful. And also thanks to everyone who reviews. I love them all. Please keep reviewing, they help me with my writing…any ways here is the long awaited chapter 5. **

**Ch. 5: Finding Out the Truth**

Monday came and went uneventfully for Ezra. Aria was home sick with the flu, and his classes were boring, more boring than usual. He talked to Spencer, Hanna, and Emily about how she was doing, and they acted weird, almost uncomfortable and Ezra couldn't figure out why. It was the only thing that day that held any interest to him. It was nagging at his mind all day. He called Aria that night but she didn't answer and Ezra assumed that she was sleeping. He texted her telling her that he hoped she was feeling better and that he loved her and would talk to her later. Though, Ezra still couldn't get the thoughts of his conversation with the girls out of his head.

_FLASHBACK_

_The bell rang to signal the end of class, the class that usually Aria is in, and Ezra called out to the class. "I hope you have a nice day everyone. Can I see Hanna, Spencer, and Emily for a few minutes?" He saw the girls give each other looks, as if they were expecting this._

"_Yes, Mr. Fitz?" Emily spoke up first, as people started filing out of the room._

_Ezra waited until everyone was out of the room before continuing. "Have you guys talked to Aria since Saturday night? She had a favor to ask you, but I didn't know if she had the chance to with her catching the flu." He asked them. The girls looked at each other awkwardly, but only slightly and Ezra wasn't sure if he had imagined it or not._

_Finally Spencer spoke up. "Yeah, we didn't know she had the flu, and we all met up with her last night. She wasn't feeling too good, but she did tell us about this weekend. The plan has a few kinks to work out, so the four of us will let you know the final plan on Wednesday." _

'_Why do these girls look guilty about something?' Ezra wondered to himself as the girls looked at the others uneasily again, knowing full well he didn't imagine it the first time though. He was going to ask why, when the warning bell for the next class rang so instead he just said, "Okay, that sounds good. Tell her that I hope she is feeling better and that I love her." He whispered the last part then wrote them all passes to their next class and then he was left to teach his next class with so many unanswered questions._

_END FLASHBACK_

So when Ezra walked into his classroom Tuesday morning, he had a distracted look on his face and didn't even realize that his room was not empty. Mr. Smith, the principle had been waiting for him. "Oh, hello Mr. Smith, What can I do for you this morning?" Ezra asked him.

"You need to come with me," Mr. Smith replied with a look of sadness in his eyes and a hint of anger in his voice. "Something is going on with one of your students."

Hearing this, Ezra's heart practically stopped. Did A send something to Mr. Smith? "Uh, okay, let me just set my things down and then I can come." Ezra knew he was going slower than usual, but he was afraid of what was coming. As Ezra walked into the office conference room, the first thing he noticed was that Aria's parents were standing in the corner with tears falling from their eyes. The fear coursing through Ezra at that moment was excruciating. He was about to break down and confess when he noticed that he was not the only teacher in the room. He saw that every single one of Aria's teachers were all sitting around the conference table, along with Spencer, Emily, Hanna, and Aria's brother, Mike. The state of fear that he was in then changed to a state of confusion. "Wh-what is this about?" He asked with confused worry.

"Ezra, you might want to take a seat. This is going to take some time." Aria's father responded, he himself talking a seat.

Once Ezra had taken the only empty seat, next to Spencer, Mr. Smith stood up and started to speak. "I know that the majority of you are wondering why we are here right now. I told you that something had happened with one of your students. Well as you might be able to gather, this student is Aria Montgomery." At this, Ezra's heart probably did stop, if only for a second. What had happened? He had talked to her briefly yesterday morning and she had been fine, aside for the fact that she had the flu. He couldn't stand the thought of something bad happening to her.

"Spencer, do you think you can explain what happened to Aria? You were the last one to see her before it happened, and I honestly don't think that Byron or I could get through it without breaking down and you could probably explain it better." Ezra heard Aria's mother speak softly. Ezra glanced over to Spencer to see her quickly look away from him and quickly to the girls, giving them looks similar to the ones he had seen the day before. It looked almost like she didn't want to say what she was going to say, especially in front of Ezra.

"Um…yeah sure, okay." She mumbled while she was standing up. She looked around at everyone, but avoided Ezra's gaze. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath and opened her mouth to speak. "Saturday night, after she left my house," She paused and looked once again to Ezra with and apologetic look in her eye that was, luckily, only noticed by him. "Aria had decided to make a stop at Alison's memorial for a few minutes. She didn't stay long because she knew she had to hurry home because it was nearing midnight. As she was walking back to her car she found that she wasn't alone, and a man walking towards her. She was knocked unconscious by some person who came up behind her and the next thing she remembers was waking up to some strange man looming in the corner of a room. This man…" Spencer needed a minute to gather her thoughts once again. Ezra was on the verge of collapsing. He didn't want to hear the rest of this. He now knew what the looks were that the friends shared. Fighting back the tears that were threatening to escape his eyes, he focused his attention back to Spencer, who was about to start speaking again. "This man started to advance on her. Aria tried fighting, but this man was so much stronger. She was once able to escape his hold, but it didn't last long because he caught up to her and threw her down and she ended up hitting her head on the corner of a chair and it was able to weaken her enough for this man to-to rape Aria. She never stopped fighting and finally the man had had enough of her fighting, and he punched her hard enough to have her knocked unconscious again." Spencer had to once again pause. She was letting her tears fall freely, something that Ezra was wishing he could do.

His heart was breaking into pieces. He couldn't protect the girl he loved, and it tore him up. Ezra tried to focus his attention back to Spencer, who was getting ready to once again speak. He needed to hear what happened next. "Aria woke up and she had been placed in the back of her car. She was in a lot of pain, and she called her parents, was taken to the hospital and she now has stitches on her forehead by her hairline, bruised bones, and more injuries that I don't really want to get into. This is all I really know." Spencer finished speaking and she started trembling when she sat back down.

A few minutes later, after everyone had been given the chance to let the information that had been given, Mr. Smith stood up, cleared his throat, and started to speak. "I know we don't usually tell all of this kind of stuff to teachers with this much detail about these types of events, but Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery wanted you to know what happened in case Aria will ever want to talk about it. I know it isn't likely, as victims of rape try to keep it to themselves, but you never know what will happen, so I want all of you to be prepared in case she does talk about it. I want you all to understand as well, don't give her any special treatment, but just understand that she is basically going through her own version of Hell right now. Aria won't be back to school until next week, she is going to be telling people that she was in a car wreck, so I want you all to keep to this story. The people in this room are the only people in the school who know what really happened and I want to keep it that way." He looked around at everyone and they all nodded in understanding and promise. "Okay, that's all. You are all free to go now, except you, please, Mr. Fitz." Mr. Smith finished, looking at Ezra.

**AN: I thought I would leave you off on a mini cliff hanger. So this is actually chapter 5 pt. 1. I decided that I wanted to split it up into 2 parts. So I'm gonna get pt 2 up as soon as I can. I might even type it up tonight, idk yet though. **

**I hope you liked this chapter. You get to see more of Ezra's reaction in the next part of the chapter. And a bunch more stuff soon. I so hope you like it. Please review. **

**DISCLAIMER! I don't own Pretty Little Liars…sadly. **


	6. Ch 5 pt 2: Finding Out the Truth

**AN:** **Thank you guys for the awesome reviews. I love them. So now I'm putting up part 2 of chapter 5. Originally it wasn't gonna be split, but as I was typing it I was like, this would be a good place to end with a cliff hanger, so I did, and now here is what happens. I hope you like it This is actually a very important chapter, it starts setting the stage for a big part of the story. Oh and PRETTY LITTLE LIARS IS BACK! Needless to say I'm pretty excited. Anyways, here is part 2.**

**Ch. 5 Part 2: Finding out the Truth**

_"Okay, that's all. You are all free to go now, except you, please, Mr. Fitz." Mr. Smith finished, looking at Ezra._

Ezra stayed frozen in his seat as all the other teachers, Mike, and Aria's friends filed out of the room but Aria's parents remained seated. Ezra was afraid, but at that moment in time he didn't know what he was more afraid of; what was going on with Aria, or the fact that he was sitting alone in the room with her parents and the principle…especially after learning about what just happened.

After a minute or so of silence, Ella decided to just start talking about why they had him stay behind. "Ezra, with you being her English teacher, and a teacher that Aria really admires, Byron and I want you to encourage Aria to open up and write about it. She has been so closed off from us since this has happened and she won't even talk to her friends." Ella had tears streaming down her cheeks, but she didn't bother wiping them away. "You know how much she loves writing? Well she hasn't even picked up her pen since-since…" Ella was having a hard time continuing and Byron decided that he would pick up where his wife left off.

"Ella and I can hardly get through to her. I guess what Ella and I are asking is that we want you to be more than a teacher, we want you to be her friend. She needs to know that…that people will still be there for her. I don't know who she was talking about, but as I was walking past her room last night I could hear her mumbling something about that someone will her when they found out about what happens, and we just want her to know that she will always have her friends." Byron finished and Ezra wasn't sure if he had heard right. He couldn't comprehend what he was just told. Was he being given permission to see Aria outside of school? And why was she afraid of him walking away from her after learning about this?

"Ezra, I know this sounds weird and even insanely different but if this is what it will take to help my baby start to heal then I want this." Ella stated as firmly as she could with the tears still falling from her eyes.

Confusion must have been evident on his face because Mr. Smith answered some of the questions that were swimming through Ezra's mind. "I know this is going against the rules of teacher/student relationships, but Aria's parents approached me about this yesterday afternoon, and as long as nothing happens between the two of you that would be inappropriate and if you keep it professional at school, I think that it would be okay for you to have a friendship with Miss Montgomery. That is, only if you would be okay with it." As Mr. Smith spoke, Ezra's mind was going a million miles a minute.

_I can see her out of school? _Ezra thought. S_omething I have always wanted to do, but I have never been able to, except for the very few times we were able to sneak off to Philly._ Ezra was about to eagerly accept this offer but then he realized that it might look a bit suspicious if he very quickly accepted something that is very much against the rules, even if he did have permission. After many thoughts and a few seconds later Ezra decided to act hesitant but willing. "Of course I'm willing to help. Aria is a bright student, but I do have some questions about this." He looked over to Mr. Smith and then to Aria's parents and they all signaled him to ask away. "What would all this include? It isn't like we would be able to hang out around town without people suspecting that it's more than a friendship." _Especially because it is definitely more than a friendship. _He added to himself.

"Well yes, you would have to be careful about the friendship. You most likely would only be able to hang out around at her house, or yours if everyone would be comfortable with that." Mr. Smith replied.

"I also know that this sounds crazy Ezra, but we don't mind you having a friendship with our daughter. We trust you and know that nothing bad can happen to her if she is around you." Byron added to the conversation.

"Do you think that you could come over today after school for a cup of coffee, and we could all talk to Aria about this and see what she thinks?" Ella asked Ezra with a hopeful look on her face.

"Yea, of course, what time?" Ezra told them, hoping that the excitement of seeing Aria wasn't too apparent.

"Does 4:30 work for you?" Byron asked him, oblivious to Ezra's excitement.

"That sounds great. I am just wondering one more thing though, why me? It would probably be easier with a teacher who is a girl or something along those lines." Ezra genuinely asked, he really was confused as to why her parents would choose him. Granted he was good friends with both of them, but why did they choose him when it came to Aria?

"Well, for one, you are one of her favorite teachers, and also, we think that she could open up to you. You two actually have a lot in common and Byron and I both think that since this is the case, she might be more willing to open up." Ella responded, smiling with the hope that Aria could move on from this ordeal that she has gone through.

"You are also the teacher closest to her age and we think that it would be easier for Aria to talk to a younger teacher, one closer to her age. Does that make any sense at all?" Byron spoke to the teacher.

"Yeah, I think it does. Thanks." Ezra answered Byron's question with a small hint of a smile.

"No, thank you, Ezra. You don't know how grateful we are that you are willing to do this. So we will see you this afternoon?" Byron said, as he and Ella got up to leave. Ezra stood up as well, after replying in the affirmative that he would indeed be there. They all left and Ezra went back to his classroom to hurry and finish up his lesson plans before class started.

After closing his door, he finally decided that it was safe to let his tears fall. He wished that he could do something. But what he wished even more is that Aria had told him, and not have him find out the way he did. He was just pulling out his phone to call Aria and ask her why when he was interrupted by the door opening behind him. Ezra quickly recomposed himself and turned around, only to come face to face with the girl who broke the news to him and her two other friends.

"Mr. Fitz…" Spencer started to speak, but found that she really didn't know what to say. She wanted to say sorry for what happened and that she was sorry that he found out that way, but the words simply would not come.

Ezra saw the struggle in her eyes and on the eyes of all three girls. He somehow knew what they wanted to tell him. "Why couldn't you have said anything before I walked in there?" Probably not the best way to start, but it was one thing he really needed to know.

"Aria didn't want us to tell you. She made us promise." Emily answered quietly.

"Why? Why didn't she want me to know?"

"We honestly don't really know. We were actually shocked when we found out that you didn't already know. It happened after she left your place, so I guess we assumed you knew, until Emily asked about it, hoping it would cheer her up." Spencer was the one to spoke up that time.

"Well what did you ask her?" Ezra really wanted to know.

"We just asked what you had said when you found out. Then she replied saying she hadn't told you yet. She is scared of how you might react and she also wanted to tell you face to face. She made us promise not to tell you anything about what happened." Hanna told Ezra softly. "She doesn't know about that meeting though, so now you have to promise us that you won't let Aria know that you know. Let her tell you in her own time and in her own way." She continued.

"Um, well she is going to find out today, not because I'm going to tell her, in a way, but because her parents invited me over for coffee this afternoon." Ezra watched all three jaws drop and he listened to all their shocked exclamation before continuing. "They want me to try and be friends with Aria, it's all confusing really, but they basically told me they don't mind me hanging out with her and not have to hide. We only need to hide our real relationship. They invited me over to talk about it with Aria; you know make sure she is fine with it." Ezra finished with a slight smile on his face.

"Wow! That is really awesome, Mr. Fitz. We are happy for you guys." Hanna was the first to speak up, and the others quickly responded with similar sentiments. Ezra told them that they couldn't tell Aria. He wanted to be the one to tell her. The three understood this, and they all promised him. After this, students started filing in so the girls quickly took their seats and they all started the rest of their day and Ezra could not wait until 4:30.

**AN: So…I hope you liked the second and final part of chapter 5. Please let me know what you think. I hope to get chapter 6 up soon….but I'm having a few troubles getting it to where I want. But if you can figure it out, it's where Aria finds out that Ezra knows. If you have anything you want to see in this story PM me and I will try to work into the story. **

**Also….who watched the season premiere. I was freaking out through the whole thing and I think I went into shock for a few minutes at the ending, well actually during the whole thing. And I loved that scene with Ezra at his apartment…you know the SHIRTLESS SCENE! I absolutely loved it. Anyways, I'm gonna stop rambling now. Please please review. **


	7. Ch 6: Discussions

**AN: Well hello again readers. I hope you are liking this story. I'm going through writers block with this story right now, but I'm going to try and get through by just typing. I hope you like this chapter, it might not be my best. As well as this story, I also now have another PLL story up. It is called "The Good Life?" I hope you read that and like that one. It is a bit different than this story though. Anyways, back to this story. This is the chapter where Aria discovers that Ezra has learned of what happened. I hope you like it.**

**DISCLAIMER! I don't own PLL. Wish I did, but alas, I do not. It belongs to Sara Shepard and ABC Family.**

**Ch. 6: Discussions**

Aria had been tired of resting. She hadn't done anything but rest for the last three days. Aria's parents told her that she had to stay home all week and Aria was not happy with that. She had to get back to school and back to Ezra. She hadn't told him yet that she wouldn't be at school all or week or that she probably couldn't go to New York either. This disappointed her, she had really been looking forward to a weekend in New York with Ezra.

_I'll call him tonight and tell him that I won't be feeling better yet and that if I am, probably not well enough to get my parents to let me go. _Aria thought sadly to herself. Aria looked at her phone and saw that her mom would soon be home from work at the school, since it was already 4:15. Not wanting to talk about how she was doing, Aria tried to sleep, well act like she was sleeping at least. She was almost asleep when she heard the door open. She heard her mom talking, and assumed that she was on her phone, until she heard another voice respond. _What are Mike and dad doing home doing so early? They have work and practice. _She wondered to herself. Then she heard another voice, it sounded so familiar, it was…wait no it couldn't be. He couldn't be at her house it was way too risky.

"Go ahead and make yourself at home, Ezra. I'm going to go check on Aria and see if she is feeling well enough to come downstairs." Ella spoke to Aria's secret boyfriend. _Why is Ezra here?_ Aria worriedly thought. He wanted to know, but at the same time she wasn't sure if she did. This could be very bad, what if her parents had found out? Aria wasn't sure if she could handle that. Aria acted as if she were asleep, just to be safe. If it was really urgent our important, like finding out, then her mother would wake her up and tell her to come down. If it was something that could wait, then her mom would let her stay asleep. As if on cue, her mom knocked on her door. "Aria, honey, are you awake? Ella called out quietly. When Aria never responded, Ella poked her head in and saw what she though was her sleeping daughter. She turned back out the door and so Aria figured that she was safe, she would "wake up" in about ten minutes and go down and face Ezra, and, well she didn't know what she would do, but then, her mother returned and this time she was not alone. She was speaking to Ezra. "I hope this won't be too awkward for you, but Byron and Mike can only her down the stairs so often this week without hardship."

"Is it really so bad that she can't walk down the stairs?" Aria heard the pained concern in Ezra's voice and it clicked in her head that he knew. _Oh my God, how did he find out? The girls couldn't have told him, they wouldn't break a promise like that. _

"Well, it was on Sunday and most of yesterday. Last night she was able to walk the stairs, but slowly. But right now, she is sleeping and when she wakes up, I want to be able to start talking about everything, so I just want to move her to the couch." Ella told him. Then continued on talking, after he nodded in understanding. "I should warn you though, she was really beaten up when we picked her up from her car when she called us after it happened; it was not a good sight. She is very badly bruised, and they are slowly healing so she may not look like her usual self." With that being said, Ella opened the door quietly so not to wake up her not sleeping daughter.

Aria heard Ezra's gasp and quieted exclamation of "Oh my God." Aria had to fight herself not to speak up and tell him anything, or to even react slightly to this because they had to think she was asleep. Even though she couldn't see his reaction on his face, Aria knew exactly how his face was looking at the moment. He looked worried, but not too worried as to give something away. His eyes were pained because he could not do anything to help her heal, hell he couldn't even protect her like he promised he would always do and he couldn't gather her up in his arms and tell her that everything would be okay.

"Do you think you could get her downstairs without waking her up Ezra?" Aria heard her mom ask. Aria almost wanted to laugh, because she knew the answer to this question.

"Um…Yeah, I think so. Is she a, um, a light or heavy sleeper?" Ezra asked slightly uncomfortably. It's not like he could come right out and say that "Why, yes, I can carry her without waking up because of how many times she has fallen asleep on my couch and I have moved her to the bed so she can sleep more soundly." Yeah, that would not be okay.

"She is a pretty heavy sleeper, but I do know she hasn't been sleeping well since, well since it happened." Ella whispered. "Do you need any help picking her up?" Aria almost groaned, even she could feel the awkwardness that Ezra was feeling at the moment.

"Uh-I think I got her." Ezra responded. He then came over and picked Aria up, like he had done so many times before. Without even thinking, Aria shifted her body to move closer towards Ezra, as if to hide her from the rest of the world. Unfortunately this did not go unnoticed by her mother.

"Wow, she looks like she knows she is somewhere safe. It is almost like she has been there before." Ella said, a little suspiciously. Luckily no one saw Aria's face of panic, but Aria did feel Ezra's body tense. "She probably thinks she is in Mike or Byron's arms. That or she is dreaming of this secret boyfriend she is hiding from us." Ella chuckled slightly as she let her previous thoughts leave her mind.

Ezra loosened up, but only a little. But he did chuckle slightly as to not seem nervous. "Yeah, maybe. I guess we will never know." He responded a bit awkwardly.

"You're probably right. So I'm going to head down, and then you can follow. You might want some help getting down the stairs because Mike and Byron have both almost tripped on at least one stair while carrying her down." When Ezra said this, he instinctively tightened his grip in on Aria, in a protective sense. After that statement, she walked out the door and headed down the stairs.

Once Ezra knew she was out of eyesight and out of earshot, he leaned his head down and placed a gentle kiss to Aria's bruise on her forehead and whispered softly, "I know you're awake."

Aria threw open her eyes and looked into Ezra's eyes and saw everything she knew she would, and more. "How did you know?" She whispered back to him. Before Ezra could respond, he rounded the corner and was in sight of Ella and Aria quickly went back to "sleep." Both Aria and Ezra caught the double meaning to Aria's question. How did Ezra know that she was awake, and how did he know what had happened to her? Aria knew she would probably learn the answer to the second question, but she wasn't sure about the first one.

Ezra got down the stairs, without mishap, and gently set Aria down on the couch. He knew he couldn't say anything to her with her whole family watching so he just settled with waiting impatiently for her to "wake up" and they could talk, but in the meantime he had to go with awkward conversation with her family. About 10 minutes later he heard a quiet voice. "Why am I on the couch?" Aria asked, pretending like she didn't know anything that happened in the last twenty minutes. She then looked over at him, "Mr. Fitz? No offense, but why are you at my house?" She checked to see if her parents were staring at her, and unfortunately they were so she couldn't even let him know that she was acting, as if he didn't know already.

"Aria, sweetie, I'm glad you are awake. We have a bit to talk about." Byron answered seriously, and Aria almost completely freaked out, then saw Ezra's face, and somehow knew that everything was going to be okay. "After all that has happened in the last few days, we decided that your teachers needed to know so this morning, we had a meeting at the school where all of your teachers, your brother, and the girls all took part of. And we let them know." He was about to continue on when he saw Aria's expression.

"What the hell dad. Why would you do that, I don't want the world knowing that. I was perfectly fine keeping it to just our family and my closest friends." She spoke angrily, sneaking a glance over to Ezra, who was actually avoiding her gaze by staring at his shoes.

Her mom is the one that answered these questions. "We thought that your teachers should know, because you are missing a week of school, and they should know why you might start falling behind. And Aria, your teachers care about you as a person too, you know. And that brings us to why Mr. Fitz is here." Ezra looked up at the sound of his name being called out. "We asked him to come over today. You might not know this Aria, but you and Mr. Fitz actually have a lot in common, and we thought that maybe you guys could be friends, so you know how much people care about you. That is if it is okay with you Aria, we don't want things to be weird for you, being friends with a teacher."

When Aria heard this she didn't know exactly what she was feeling. She was so upset with her parents for telling all of her teachers, including her boyfriend/teacher. But out of this, she can be able to see the man she loves more often? She was definitely confused. "Mom, dad, I'm confused. I mean I'm still upset over this, but why would you choose a _teacher_ for me to be friends with. I have my friends." She looked over to Ezra with a confused hurt look on her face. How could he have not told her that this was coming? She loved him, but what the hell was going on?

Ezra could sense her confusion and knew how he was feeling. He knew she must be feeling some hurt from this. He put on a mix of boyfriend and teacher voice and spoke. "Aria, your parents, they care about you and they just wanted you to see that people will be there, always. They asked me to be willing to be your friend to try and help you out with this…this ordeal that you went through last weekend. And if you are willing to be friends with me, then I will be there, always, as well." He looked at her and he let her know silently that he had so much more he wanted to tell her, but couldn't due to the three other people in the room.

Mike, who had been silent this whole time, spoke up then. "Aria, don't be mad at mom and dad. They told your teachers because they love you. They asked Mr. Fitz to be here because he has the potential to really help you out, he's a writer, and you're a writer. He could help you write out your feelings with this. You can't just keep all that happened to you, it's not healthy. Aria, don't make snap decision about this. We all love and care for you and we want you to be getting better."

By the time Mike had finished speaking, Aria's eyes started to water and she started to softly cry. Her brother was right. Her parents were doing this for her because they wanted her to get better. But what no one could see is how much she broke from this. She wasn't the same girl that these people knew. She was just a girl who looked like her. She didn't know how people could be the same around her after learning what just happened. And she hated A for doing this to her. But they couldn't know how she felt about this. So she just acted like she was fine with it and moving on. "You're right; I'm sorry mom and dad. I am just a little upset because I wish you could have at least told me first." She then turned her face to look over at Ezra again. "Mr. Fitz, thank you for being willing to be friends with me. It might take some getting used to, but I'm willing to try a friendship." She told him, and she saw him smile, not the big wide smile she knew he wanted to show, but a small happy smile, full of happiness and pain. She hadn't really thought about how he might react. She just thought about how he would leave her if he found out.

After this, her parents decided that they would tell the secret couple about some friendship rules, as they were going to be called, because this wasn't a normal friendship. They had to be careful at school and not let others know, at all. "Can I at least tell the girls? They should know." Her parents said that yes; that would be okay. There were more rules, but Ezra and Aria already knew them. They weren't much different than the ones they had for themselves. It did catch her off guard when her parents said that, if it was okay with both her and Ezra that she could go over to his apartment sometimes to hang out, since that is what friends do, is hang out.

"Though, before you can hang out there for the first time, would it be okay if we came over and see where you live, you know just so we know?" Ella asked Ezra.

"Yes, you can. I completely understand that." Ezra told them The group talked a bit longer, before the parents decided that they were going to let the "new friends" talk. And they all dismissed themselves and left Aria and Ezra alone in the living room.

When they knew they were alone, Ezra was about to start talking when Aria spoke first. "Ezra, I'm sorry I didn't tell you before today. I wanted to tell you, believe me, I did. But saying something like that over the phone, it's not the best way to break the news. And, also, I don't think that I will be able to go to New York. No matter how much I wanted to, I just don't see my parents letting me after this." She said, pointing to the bruises on her face.

She had so much more she wanted to say, but Ezra then picked up where she left off. "Aria, it's okay, I understand why you didn't tell me yet. My only wish is that I didn't find out the way that I had. The girls, they looked so uncomfortable that whole meeting. They knew that you wanted to tell me and they came in after and apologized for the whole thing. And as to New York, baby, don't worry about it. I'll just tell Blaine that you caught the flu and couldn't make it. I would try and get out of it myself if I could, but I couldn't disappoint Coda like that. I promise you this though; we will go to New York together, just you and me someday within the next year." He kissed her gently then, he made sure it was a quick kiss, for he didn't know if someone would walk in on them.

Aria smiled at him after the kiss but the smile was short lived. She knew she had to tell him that it was because of A that this all happened. Ezra noticed the small change in her face and asked her what she was thinking about. "Ezra, there is something that happened that night that you need to know. Before I called my parents to let them know what happened, I got a text. It was a text from A." She saw Ezra's face turn to a face of fear. He was scared of A even as much as the girls. "She basically said that it was because of her that I was…that I was raped. It's because of her that this has happened. It's because of that bitch that I can't be at school, I can't go to New York, and it's because of her that my life has been ruined." Aria started crying then. She almost started to break down and Ezra did what he did best, comfort Aria. It took some time but he was able to calm her down. "Thank you, Ezra."

"Don't even worry about it Aria. I love you, and I will do anything for you." Ezra told her sweetly. He kissed her gently again, but quit again, because he heard footsteps coming down the steps. And he saw Ella walk in the room.

"Ezra, would you like to stay for dinner tonight?" She asked him.

"Sure, I would love too, Ella. Thank you." He told her. After that, Ella walked into the kitchen and both Aria and Ezra knew that they had to be careful what to say again, because you could hear what was being said in the living room from the kitchen. So the two started talking about books and things they were used to talking about, they were just more careful as to say something that might give them away. This friendship would be great, but whenever he was over at the Montgomery household, they knew it might be a little bit difficult, but at the time the two love birds didn't care, they were able to see each other.

**AN: I hope you like this chapter. It's kind of iffy to me. Please tell me what you think. I would love some feedback. Hopefully I will get chapter 7 up soon. Please review. **


	8. Ch 7: I Don't Want to Talk

**AN: I'M BACKKK! I loved the reviews that I got on the last chapter. They were great, and I got some cool ideas for the story. I'm changing my storyline a little bit, not much. Originally, when I came up with the idea for the story, I was gonna have Aria get pregnant from it, but I changed my mind; I don't really want to do it anymore. What do you guys think yes or no to that storyline? I'll write it if you want it. Also, I'm not going to be very busy for the next week or so, so I should be able to update at least a few times this week, but after that I'm gonna be getting very busy for at least a few weeks with moving and stuff like that, but I'm gonna do my best to update frequently. Oh, and for this chapter I'm gonna have it be in Aria's POV for how I want the chapter to go, idk if I'll keep it throughout the whole story or not yet, tell me what you think about it. Anyways…here is chapter 8.**

**Ch. 8: I Don't Want to Talk**

_**ARIA'S P.O.V**_

I'll be honest; I love Ezra, and I'm so happy that we are able to be friends with permission of my parents. But, right now, all I want is to get away from him. He is going to want to stay as close as possible to me now, after what happened. Even more so since I was stupid and told him that it was because of A. Ezra thinks this is hell, he couldn't protect me from this and A took advantage of it. But, damn it, he doesn't know the meaning of hell. I'm the one who got raped, not him.

I shouldn't be upset with Ezra, but I am. He is acting like I can get over this just by sitting next to him on the couch with his arm around me. It's not going to fix things, and I want to tell him but he is too happy that we can be together outside of school. When I first heard that I could be with him out of school I was beyond happy, but then I just felt crowded. I'm feeling as if people are crowding around me, like I can't be left alone anymore. People are always around me now that I just want to be left alone. I'm putting on a strong face for Ezra, and my family. My parents are blind to it, but I think that Ezra knows. He knows me to well and right now that thought really scares me.

When my mom invited him to stay for dinner, I wanted to yell out no, or have him say that he couldn't stay. I want to go back to my room and curl up and sleep. But, wait, I can't sleep because every time I close my eyes, I return to that small room where I wanted to die. Dinner went the same way it had all week, the only exception was that Ezra was there, trying to act like he wasn't in love with me. Everyone was very talkative, that is everyone except for me. I just stared at my plate and hardly ate. I finished before everyone and asked if I could be excused claiming that I was really tired and needed to rest. They let me go, and I slowly made my way up to the sanctuary of my bedroom. Twenty minutes went by, and I was sitting on my bed looking at the blank page in front of me. I wanted to write, but I couldn't come up with words. I was just about to put the paper away when I heard a knock at my door. I looked up to see Ezra standing in front of me.

"I just came to say goodbye, I need to head out. I have some papers to grade." He told me, I nodded and I expected him to leave, but instead he looked over his shoulder, then walked into my room and sat down next to me. "Aria, stop putting up this strong front you are putting on. I know you're hurting, and you need to talk about it. I'm here, you know that. Do you want to talk about it right now?" He asked me. Damn, stop getting in my head Mr. Fitz.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm fine. I don't need to talk about it. I just need to sleep." I told him, he knows this is a lie, but I think he knows that I'm not in the mood to talk. I'm not in the mood to do anything. Ezra looked hurt that I didn't want to talk to him, but oh well; people don't always get what they want.

"Okay, are you sure, Aria?" He asked me. This is what I wanted to say, 'Oh, God, just stop interrogating me. I said I don't want to talk, just leave me alone.' Instead I just nodded to let him know that yes I am sure I don't want to talk right now. He then leaned over to kiss me, and I turned my head away from him. I had let him kiss me earlier, hoping it would bring me comfort but for some reason, it felt different, the kiss scared me.

Ezra, again, looked a little hurt, but I just gave him a lame ass excuse. "My parents or brother could walk in and see. I don't think they would be okay with that." He seemed to believe it, and he left asking me if he could call me later. "If I'm still awake, I'll answer when you call." I lied. I didn't want to talk to him. I didn't want to talk to anyone. He seemed to be okay with that line too. He said goodbye and left my room, and a minute later I heard my parents telling him goodbye followed by the front door closing.

My mom came upstairs to my room then, "So, are you sure you are okay with this unusual friendship with Ezra? You seemed kind of uncomfortable when we were talking about it. Then you didn't say anything during dinner." If only my mom knew the half of it. How else am I supposed to act around my secret boyfriend that I'm not supposed to have a relationship with outside of school?

"Yeah, I'm fine with it. It will just take some getting used to, that's all. He's a cool teacher and it will be cool to get to know him better." I told her honestly. It will take some getting used to the fact that I will be seeing him outside of school, in front of my parents. Though, I already know him better than I should, so I guess that part was a lie.

"Okay, that's good to know." My mom looked like she wanted to say more, but I think she got the feeling that I didn't want to talk, so she then wished me goodnight and left the room. Well at least one person knows that I don't want to talk about anything.

**AN: I know this is short, but I just had to write something. I'm going through some major writers block currently, idk why though. I usually know exactly what I want to write in this story. The next chapter will be longer. Anyways, what did you think? I would love your feedback. And again, what do you think about the 2 questions I asked in the beginning AN? Please answer. **

**Thanks I hope to update again soon.**

**DISCLAIMER! I do not own PLL. It belongs to Sara Shepard and ABC Family. **


	9. Ch 8: I'm Not Backing Down

**AN: Again, I'm sorry for taking longer than I planned to update. I have hit major writers block. It actually really sucks. I'm also trying to get all packed because I am moving across the country in 2 weeks to find a job before school starts in the fall. I owe my friend Ziva a huge thank you (it's not her real name it's the name I call her, since she and I both love NCIS and we have a group of friends with NCIS names, I got Abby haha). She is the one that told me to just sit down and get something written. So you can thank her for this chapter. **

**Ch. 8: I'm Not Backing Down**

**EZRA P.O.V**

I left Aria that night with a struggle. I didn't want to leave her side, I wanted to stay there and tell her everything would be alright. I wouldn't say this out loud but I really hate myself at the moment. Not even a half hour after I said that I would always protect her, A decided to destroy her life. Aria was in an unexplainable amount of pain, and I couldn't protect her. This is why I don't want to leave her side. I am afraid that if I leave, then A might do something more to ruin everything.

Aria told me that she was worried about her family possibly walking in when I tried to kiss her goodbye tonight. But I know her better than she realizes. I know that she was afraid to kiss me. At first I was upset, but then I realized what Mr. Smith had said this morning during the meeting, "_Victims of rape try to keep it to themselves._" That is exactly what Aria is doing, she is keeping to herself. She doesn't want to talk. What hurts worse right now, is she thought that I would leave her after I found out. Does she really think that I would leave her because of this? I don't understand it.

I needed someone to talk to, someone who already knew what happened. It also had to be someone who knew my relationship with Aria. That right there wound the list down to Spencer, Hanna, and Emily. It's not like I could just go to their house and talk to them. And besides, how would I start a conversation like that, I couldn't. It was that simple. I know that I told Aria that I would just tell Blaine that she had the flu. But right now, he is the only one that I can talk to. He is the only one who can actually give me advice. I would have to tell him everything. Oh, God, I promised Aria I wouldn't say anything. Blaine doesn't need to know about this. I guess I'll just resort to what I always resort to, my pen and paper.

I got home that night, and pulled out my notebook that kept my various writings. I put my pen to the paper and just let words come. I don't know how long I wrote, but by the time I was done, it looked like a novel. I hadn't written this much since I was in New York last year, when I was trying to stay away from the girl I love. That was when I got my poem B-26 written. Aria has always been the one to inspire my writing. I hope that with all this, I can still inspire her to write though. She admitted to me a few months ago that most of her writing now, was inspired by me, and I admitted the same fact. I hope that I can get her to write again. When Ella told me that she hadn't picked up her pen since Saturday night, it hurt. I haven't known Aria to go one day without writing, now she has gone 2 ½ days without writing. It may not seem like a long time, but for Aria it is forever.

I couldn't focus on this anymore, so I decided it was time to call Blaine, and let him know that Aria wouldn't be able to come this weekend. I called him up and he answered almost right away. "Hey Ezra, what's up? You usually wait until later at night whenever you call. Is something wrong?" Blaine answered and he sounded worried.

"Uh, nothing is that wrong, but today definitely sucked." I told him in a frustrated sigh.

"What happened bro?"

"Well Aria caught the flu for one, so she won't be able to come this weekend. And I also learned stuff about one of my students that is really going to impact stuff in the school, I can't really talk about it, but oh my God, it was just one of those down days I guess." I told him. I couldn't believe I almost slipped up about Aria. At least I caught myself first.

"I'm sorry bro, that's got to suck. I was really looking forward to meeting her. Maybe in a few weeks Anna and I could bring Coda down to visit. I don't mind just hanging out in the apartment with you and Aria." Blaine told me, I didn't really know how to respond. I just knew I didn't want him in Rosewood.

"Uh-okay, maybe. I guess that might work. We can always talk about it this weekend. I'll be up there Saturday mid-morning most likely." I told him. We moved on to other subjects. I wished I could tell him what really happened, but I didn't want to break Aria's trust and I basically told her that I wouldn't tell Blaine this. "Hey, I got to go; I have some papers to grade. I'll call you later." I told him about a half an hour later. We hung up and I attempted to grade, but I couldn't focus on anything but Aria. I knew she probably wouldn't answer the phone if I called her, even though she said she would, but I called her anyways. As I somewhat expected, she did not answer.

I looked at the clock, it said that it was just after nine; I grabbed my keys and got into my car. I drove around looking for an open bookstore. I ended up finding one about a half hour away. I went in and found books on rape victims, and what they usually act like after. I also picked up a book that I knew Aria really wanted and I went to the counter and purchased both the books on rape and my gift for Aria. I got home that night around 10:30 and I immediately opened up the books that I knew I would have to hide whenever Aria was here, I don't think she would like it very much. I just wanted to try and understand slightly what she is feeling right now. I learned a lot from reading these, and I am in for a roller coaster ride, but I'm never going to leave Aria. When she tries to push me away, I'll give her some space, but I won't completely back down. I will always be there for her. And I'm going to make sure she knows it. I love her too much to let A get to her and get her to Aria and break her down.

**AN: I know, it's another short chapter. But I wanted a short chapter in the eyes of Ezra and how he is going to deal with this. I am probably going to go back to General POV the rest of the story, idk though. What do you think? Hope you liked this chapter. Review please.**


	10. Ch 9: Progress?

**AN: So I feel like a huge apology is in order. It has been way to long since I last updated. I got busy moving, not having very good internet access, getting settled in my apartment, and fighting writers block. Also, my friend Anna (yes the one who I named a character after) "kidnapped" me for the weekend. So I spent some time with her family, which reminded me even more that I hadn't updated in for like ever. So I had free time today, and I decided that I must write something. I hope you like this chapter. I know exactly where I'm going with this story now. Getting there is the problem haha. Here is chapter nine. Please Review **

**Ch. 9: Progress?**

**GENERAL POV**

Aria spent the rest of her week off of school doing the same thing she did at the beginning of the week. She sat mindlessly in her room watching television shows that made no sense to her, she attempted sleep, and she spent time on her computer trying to find things that wouldn't let her mind wander back to the horrible night. Though, no matter how hard she tried, Aria couldn't go an hour without being forced to re-enter her nightmare. Everywhere she looked and everything she heard made her think of it. Aria couldn't get out of this hell that A threw her in.

Aria had been attempting to write on Friday afternoon, she needed to let her feelings out. Her anger, her helplessness, her everything, she needed to write, but the words refused to come to her, and this never happened. She was just sitting at her desk staring at the empty notebook page in frustration. It was as if the empty page before her was mocking her at the fact that she had no words to put down. "Aria, Ezra is here." She heard her mother call to her from downstairs "Come say hi to him, he doesn't have long. He has to get ready to go to New York this weekend."

"Great, just what I need, another reminder." Aria mumbled to herself as she slammed her notebook shut and went downstairs. She painted a fake smile onto her face, though she knew it was useless to even fake, because Ezra would know. "Hello, Ezra." She told him.

"Hey, Aria. I stopped by to say hi. Ella invited me to come over tomorrow, but since I wasn't able to, I offered to come by this afternoon before I leave in the morning." He told her, somewhat painfully as they were both thinking that Aria was supposed to be going with him to New York.

"Oh, well thanks for coming." She told him, not even looking at him. Even though she loved Ezra, she didn't want him here right now.

"Uh, anytime." Ezra told her, he noticed her pain and just wished that there was more that he could do to help the girl of his dream heal. "I, uh, brought you a book that I thought you might enjoy." He then pulled out the book that he had bought earlier in the week to give her. She took it and looked at the title and her face automatically lit up.

"Thank you, Ezra. I have wanted this book for a while, but I never actually got around to buying it." Aria knew that Ezra knew this and that he had bought it for that exact reason. Ezra had been surprised to learn that Aria did not own a copy of _Jane Eyre. _She always told him that she loved the story from the second she picked it up at a library three years ago but she never got around to actually owning it.

"Ezra, I know that you have to get ready to leave for New York, but would like to stay for dinner?" Ella asked walking into the room.

Ezra snuck a glance at Aria who had become immersed into her new book, he couldn't tell if she wanted him to stay or not. "I would hate to intrude; I mean I really did only stop by just to give Aria the book…" Ezra was starting to continue, but Aria spoke up.

"You should stay, Ezra. It would be nice to get to know you a little bit better." Ezra looked for a sign that Aria didn't want him to stay, but he found none at all. She looked like she wanted him to stay.

"Um, yeah okay, then. I would love to stay for dinner." Ezra told Ella. Then she left the two to talk. The two started talking of books, but Ezra caught on that Aria was still uncomfortable. She did want him to stay, but she was still having trouble being around him. He wanted to much to ask her about it, but he also knew that Ella could most likely over hear their entire conversation, so he left it alone, for now.

Aria wanted Ezra to stay for dinner. She knew that she wouldn't be able to see him until Monday, at least. Though, she still didn't want to be around him. Aria hated feeling like this. Wasn't Ezra supposed to make her feel safe? Wasn't he supposed to always be there? That is what he had promised her. She used to melt at the touch of his body, but now she tensed and hardened against him. She loved him, so why did she feel this way?

At dinner, she made sure she sat as far but as close as she could. She spoke more than she had a few days earlier, but she wasn't as animated as the rest of her family. Aria was still extremely scared about everything that she couldn't bring herself to be her normal self anymore. She was now hiding behind some mask. But, maybe she wasn't hiding at all, maybe this is who she actually was now. The guarded, scared, emotionless, seventeen year old girl who had gotten raped. Aria fully believed that she would never be able to go back to the way she had been before. The girl who would sneak around to see the man she loved. The girl who would stay out all night with her best friends. The girl who only ever worried about A.

It was nearly 9:30 before Ezra finally took his leave of the Montgomery home. I'll see you on Monday, Aria?" He asked her, hoping the answer would be yes. She merely nodded and gave a quick smile. The two of them still wishing that she would still be with him for the weekend. Though, they both knew that wouldn't happen. "I'll see you next week then."

After he left, Ezra drove home with many thoughts filling his head. He had noticed how Aria was trying to let him back into her confidence, but she was still struggling. He wanted so bad just to lean over and kiss her so many times that night, hoping it would help her, but he knew that he couldn't for more than one reason.

Ezra wondered how long it would take Aria for her to be able to return to even a fraction of what she had been before. He knew that this event had changed her, and that she would most likely never be the complete same as she used to be. But, he was hoping that she would at least get a little better after time. She was already making some progress, he could have sworn that he saw a true smile when he gave her the book. _Hopefully she will be able to enjoy the book as she has been able to enjoy it in the past. _Ezra thought to himself as he came up to a red light.

When Ezra got home that night, he pulled out the books again and started reading some more. He couldn't figure out about where Aria was in her healing process, but he did know that she seemed to be doing better than some people from what he read. He only hoped that her progress would not back track at a point. It seemed as if most do at some point in their healing process. Aria was different from the others though. The others didn't have the support system that Aria has. Well at least in his own opinion they didn't. Aria had her family, teachers, her three best friends, and most of all, Aria had Ezra.

But also, Aria had something the other ones didn't have. They didn't have A watching their every move, making sure that Aria will never heal and that her progress she has been making comes to a complete stop. A is there to make sure that Aria's life is a living hell and that hopefully Aria will meet the same end as her friend Alison.

**AN: Soooo…..what do ya think? I know it is semi short, but I will have more soon…hopefully. Please review. Reviews make me feel happy haha. Anyways….have a good day. Happy Pretty Little Liars Day….as many of the cast call it on twitter. Sad day though….I have to wait till tomorrow to watch it since I no longer have a TV. Lol oh well….i'll watch it ASAP haha. Anyways. I hope you liked it.**

**DISCLAIMER! I do not own PLL….i have been over this before, so yeah, you know the drill. lol**


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